The present invention relates to charging systems for wireless speakers.
Today, most people who buy a 5.1 surround-sound speaker system rarely set up and use the rear speakers because of the complexities in stringing the required signal wires to the rear of the listening/viewing area and installing the rear speakers. Solutions have been developed where the rear speakers receive the audio signal through wireless means. But these solutions still have short-comings in that those wireless rear speakers still need to be plugged in to AC wall power, or they run on batteries which may deplete at inopportune times if the user fails to maintain the battery.
Technology advances have created “virtual surround” solutions where advanced signal processing technologies are used to simulate surround-sound from only a front set of speakers. These solutions are acceptable for some people, but they still fall short of the performance and experience that may be achieved with a pair of rear surround sound speakers placed behind or to the side of the listening position.
Some examples of prior art related to speakers and chargers are as follows. U.S. Pat. No. 6,509,716 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,676 show a cell phone charger that becomes a speakerphone when the cell phone is charging. U.S. Pat. No. 7,548,040 describes wirelessly charging a speaker using inductive coupling.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems individually and collectively.